ON Muslim and Arab women, Islam, human rights, and the revolutions sweeping across the Maghreb, Middle East and Persian Gulf. There are a lot of inspiring Muslim women involved in these revolutions, but it is disappointing not one woman is on the committee drafting Egypt's new constitution. We can only hope and pray the men of Egypt don't forget the women of Egypt who stood with them, bled and died with them, for freedom and democracy....
Throughout the extraordinary events of the last few months, across the Middle East and North Africa, long-silenced voices demanding change are being heard worldwide -- and stalwart among them are the voices of women. From the bereaved mother of the first tragic Tunisian protester, to Asmaa Mahfouz, the 26-year-old whose YouTube video brought Egyptians into the streets, to Sally Zahran, a passionate 23-year-old Egyptian woman who was bludgeoned to death on January 28, to Tawakul Abdel-Salam Karman, the activist whose arrest sparked demonstrations in Yemen and countless others, women have joined with men in peaceful protest, braving beatings, rubber bullets, and worse. In Egypt, considered the birthplace of Arab feminism in the 1920s, an estimated quarter of the million protesters at the height of the demonstration were female. In all the pictures from the protest, none was as powerful as that of the woman standing face to face with an Egyptian soldier in a pose of utmost defiance. One young female protester stated, "There are no differences between men and women here. We are all one hand." In more conservative cultures such as Bahrain and Yemen, fewer women have demonstrated, but for that very reason their presence is perhaps even more significant.
This should come as no surprise. Women are consummate peacemakers, and civil protest has always been one of their most powerful tools of expression.
I have been privileged to work with numerous networks of courageous women who have suffered the worst consequences of war, conflict and discrimination; in Jordan and Palestine, in Israel, in Colombia, in Central Asia, in Africa and the Balkans, raising their voices and joining forces for change.
Many countries that are struggling to recover from harrowing civil war, including Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Chile, Bosnia, and Liberia, have turned to women leaders for stability, security and peace. After the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda, Hutu and Tutsi women joined together to support each other and the war's victims and to lead the search for truth and reconciliation as official members of government.
In Liberia, I have witnessed the inspiring force of the market women who, throughout 16 years of civil war, sustained their families, saved lives and kept food supplies flowing while they marched and successfully negotiated for peace and, then ensured the election of Africa's first woman president.
And, in the former Yugoslavia, the site of the worst carnage in Europe since World War II, I have sat and wept with Bosnian, Serb and Croatian women as they struggled to come to terms with the deaths of their husbands, sons and fathers -- killed, in some cases, by the husbands or sons of women sitting across the table.
Why such compassion to the widows of their enemies? As one woman put it simply, "We are all mothers." They came to our meetings to search for threads of human connection amidst the chaos of conflict.
Today, women raising their voices in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen are not all mothers, but they are also daughters, wives, sisters. They are fighting for their families, but they are also fighting for themselves; and in Palestine, the women of the occupied territories are fighting for the freedom to be included in the greater Palestinian struggle.
Heartening though this may be, as revolution gives way to realpolitik, women's rights are all too often the first things to be compromised on and bartered away. For example, although these protests present an unprecedented opportunity for women, some of the results are less than encouraging. In Egypt, while the protests themselves were marked by a sense of unity, it did not take long for sexual harassment to reassert itself. And women returned to protest when the Supreme Council for the Armed forces, designating a committee to amend the country's constitution, neglected to appoint a single woman.
Women's new empowerment will not be suppressed easily, however. So far, these have not been the traditional stories about women -- especially Muslim women -- that tend to show up on the news. Many do not imagine Arab and Muslim women have much in common with their counterparts in the West because of the selective, damaging and stereotypical images that the media commonly present. When I married King Hussein in 1978, reporters were constantly asking me how a progressive, educated, American woman could go live in such a repressive culture. Those reporters did not know the Arab women I did -- the doctors, lawyers, professors and entrepreneurs -- many of whom became friends and advisers as I set my priorities for public service. The dedication and ambition of the increasing numbers of such women gives great cause for optimism about their prospects for shaping the future of the region. Providing these women with opportunities for partnering with international institutions and networks can enhance that transformative potential both within their own societies and for the benefit of our larger world.
Too many in the Western world still equate the images and soundbites describing women under Taliban and restrictive rule in other countries with the teachings of our faith and conditions throughout the Muslim world. Many worry that greater democracy in the region will give reign to more restrictive interpretations of Islam and a rollback of women's rights. I think, however, that there is reason for hope for women within our faith itself.
Most westerners -- and even some in our region -- do not recognize that women were granted political, economic, legal and social rights by Islam in the 7th century -- rights then unheard of in the West; rights that women were still struggling for in the 20th century in so many parts of the world -- such as the equal right to education, to own and inherit property, to conduct business, to participate in decision making, to be elected to office and not be coerced into marriage. The oppression of women in parts of the Muslim world is not because of Islam, but contrary to it.
Male and female equality is enshrined in numerous places in Islamic scripture, such as the Quranic verse: "I waste not the labor of any that labors among you, be you male or female -- the one of you is as the other." And from the later teachings: "For the white to lord it over the black, the Arab over the non-Arab, the rich over the poor, the strong over the weak or men over women is out of place and wrong." The true application of fundamental Islamic principles can actually empower women to play a crucial role in the process of peaceful change.
As popular demands progress to political and social transition in the MENA region, it is of critical importance that the women who have played such an important role not be relegated to secondary status yet again. They must not simply be forced to exchange an old for a new set of oppressions. Any reforms must continue the progress toward full human rights for women that our region so desperately needs, not only for the women's sake. It is vital that MENA countries more urgently recognize that the status of women is the key determinant to the development of their societies. In turn, the international community can play a critical role in helping to build bridges that can further integrate women both locally and globally.
It is fitting that in Egypt, where Arab feminists first made their voices heard, women have played such an integral role, and have set something of a precedent, by courageously fighting for their unequivocal rights.
On this anniversary of International Women's Day, almost a century since those Arab feminists raised their voices, it is time for women everywhere to take their proper place beside men as equal parents of new societies born in democracy and justice.
BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
Showing posts with label Tawakul Karman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tawakul Karman. Show all posts
25 January 2011
Government Backed With US Guns Arrests Activist Backed By USAID from WAR IS BUSINESS 25JAN11
ANOTHER example of why we should be celebrating Wikileak's release of the diplomatic cables exposing the lies, manipulation and propaganda of the U.S. government. Just weeks after Sec. of State Clinton lectures the government of Yemen about human rights, freedom and democracy, just weeks after the people's revolution in Tunisia, we find out we are still supplying the weapons the government of Yemen to repress the peaceful political opposition in that country. And the American people have become so brainwashed by the military-industrial complex and the politicians they have paid for in Congress that they would rather see our tax dollars supporting selling or giving weapons systems to repressive governments than be spent on schools, economic development, supporting democratic institutions, and health care.....and so we end up facing greater risk from terrorist groups, requiring more spending on weapons systems and military foreign aid....
This from WarIsBusiness....
If Americans should take anything from today’s protests in Egypt, last weekend’s protests in Pakistan and Yemen, and the popular revolution in Tunisia, it is this: the United States spends more money enabling corruption in the Muslim world than it does supporting democracy.
Consider the example of Yemen. Over the weekend, Al Jazeera English reported that police “fired tear gas at the demonstrators, whose grievances include proposed constitutional changes that would allow the president to rule for a lifetime.” The protests in the capital, Sana’a, were inspired in part by the the arrest of journalist and organizer Tawakul Karman.
Karman, pictured, was freed on Monday. A few news organizations that covered the protests mentioned that Karman was recently nominated for a US State Department award for her courage in the face of threats. No one, however, pointed out that her anti-corruption group, Women Journalists Without Chains, has received American government funds through the Middle East Partnership Initiative.
Kamran’s organization benefited from a grant worth tens of thousands of dollars. The government that threw her in jail for protesting without a permit has received more than $300 million worth of US military assistance over the years.
Karman belongs to the opposition party, Islah. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh (pictured below) claims Islah has terrorist connections.
So did the US government make a mistake by supporting the work of a “revolutionary” Islamist who could be portrayed, through the fuzzy logic of the war on terror, as being only a few steps removed from Al Qaeda?
No. If the US made a mistake, it was supplying guns and bombs to yet another authoritarian ruler whose oppressive tactics only fuel public resentment.
This classified State Department cable—from the batch of thousands leaked by Bradley Manning—all but accuses President Saleh of attempting to use US military assistance to murder his political opponents.
The backdrop for the year-old cable is that Saudi Arabia and Yemen have been using American hardware to fight an insurgent group, the Houthis, along the border shared by the two countries. The cable describes a meeting between Saudi Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation Prince Khaled bin Sultan and the US Ambassador to Riyadh, James B. Smith.
Smith threatened to stop supplying satellite imagery to Saudi Arabia “in light of evidence that Saudi aircraft may have struck civilian targets”—in particular, a hospital.
“If we had the Predator [drone], maybe we would not have this problem,” Prince Khaled replied.
The prince’s cynical bid for more advanced weaponry is perhaps the least objectionable exchange in this troubling document, which, aside from a Miami Herald story and an article in an aviation trade journal, seems to have gone unreported by the press.
In the cable, Prince Khaled explains how the Saudi Air Force selects targets in northern Yemen based on the recommendations of a “Saudi-Yemeni joint committee” of senior officers. Here’s the key passage:
The prince does not claim that Saleh personally placed a rival on a hit list. But the leaked State Department cables offer more reasons to suspect Saleh would prefer American bombs to do his political dirty work. In one cable, the Yemeni president attempts to tie the Islah party—”largely recognized as moderate”—to Al Qaeda. In another cable, Saleh’s foreign minister claims that an Islah leader’s public criticism of civilian casualties in the US-backed airstrikes constitute a “defense” of Al Qaeda.
The good news, judging from the tone of the cables, is that US diplomats seem to be aware that Saleh’s information may not be 100 percent reliable.
The bad news is that awareness of such opportunism by the Yemeni government appears to have little effect so far on American policy in the region. The arms deals for authoritarians keep getting bigger, while support for activists like Karman could be cut to zero.
This from WarIsBusiness....
If Americans should take anything from today’s protests in Egypt, last weekend’s protests in Pakistan and Yemen, and the popular revolution in Tunisia, it is this: the United States spends more money enabling corruption in the Muslim world than it does supporting democracy.Consider the example of Yemen. Over the weekend, Al Jazeera English reported that police “fired tear gas at the demonstrators, whose grievances include proposed constitutional changes that would allow the president to rule for a lifetime.” The protests in the capital, Sana’a, were inspired in part by the the arrest of journalist and organizer Tawakul Karman.
Karman, pictured, was freed on Monday. A few news organizations that covered the protests mentioned that Karman was recently nominated for a US State Department award for her courage in the face of threats. No one, however, pointed out that her anti-corruption group, Women Journalists Without Chains, has received American government funds through the Middle East Partnership Initiative.
Kamran’s organization benefited from a grant worth tens of thousands of dollars. The government that threw her in jail for protesting without a permit has received more than $300 million worth of US military assistance over the years.
Karman belongs to the opposition party, Islah. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh (pictured below) claims Islah has terrorist connections.
So did the US government make a mistake by supporting the work of a “revolutionary” Islamist who could be portrayed, through the fuzzy logic of the war on terror, as being only a few steps removed from Al Qaeda?
No. If the US made a mistake, it was supplying guns and bombs to yet another authoritarian ruler whose oppressive tactics only fuel public resentment.
This classified State Department cable—from the batch of thousands leaked by Bradley Manning—all but accuses President Saleh of attempting to use US military assistance to murder his political opponents.The backdrop for the year-old cable is that Saudi Arabia and Yemen have been using American hardware to fight an insurgent group, the Houthis, along the border shared by the two countries. The cable describes a meeting between Saudi Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation Prince Khaled bin Sultan and the US Ambassador to Riyadh, James B. Smith.
Smith threatened to stop supplying satellite imagery to Saudi Arabia “in light of evidence that Saudi aircraft may have struck civilian targets”—in particular, a hospital.
“If we had the Predator [drone], maybe we would not have this problem,” Prince Khaled replied.
The prince’s cynical bid for more advanced weaponry is perhaps the least objectionable exchange in this troubling document, which, aside from a Miami Herald story and an article in an aviation trade journal, seems to have gone unreported by the press.
In the cable, Prince Khaled explains how the Saudi Air Force selects targets in northern Yemen based on the recommendations of a “Saudi-Yemeni joint committee” of senior officers. Here’s the key passage:
Prince Khaled also reported that the Saudis had problems with some of the targeting recommendations received from the Yemeni side. For instance, there was one occasion when Saudi pilots aborted a strike, when they sensed something was wrong about the information they received from the Yemenis. It turned out that the site recommended to be hit was the headquarters of General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, the Yemeni northern area military commander, who is regarded as a political opponent to President Saleh. This incident prompted the Saudis to be more cautious about targeting recommendations from the Yemeni government.Some background: Ali Mohsen happens to be Saleh’s half-brother. He also reportedly recruited Yemeni fighters for Osama Bin Laden back in the 1980s, when Bin Laden shared a common, anti-Soviet cause with the US. Ali Mohsen’s history goes unmentioned in the State Department cable, and he doesn’t appear on current public US terrorist lists. All of this context is important in the broader context of the war on terror, but it’s not necessarily germane to the issue raised in the cable: That Saleh’s government may be supplying targets based on political opportunism.
The prince does not claim that Saleh personally placed a rival on a hit list. But the leaked State Department cables offer more reasons to suspect Saleh would prefer American bombs to do his political dirty work. In one cable, the Yemeni president attempts to tie the Islah party—”largely recognized as moderate”—to Al Qaeda. In another cable, Saleh’s foreign minister claims that an Islah leader’s public criticism of civilian casualties in the US-backed airstrikes constitute a “defense” of Al Qaeda.
The good news, judging from the tone of the cables, is that US diplomats seem to be aware that Saleh’s information may not be 100 percent reliable.
The bad news is that awareness of such opportunism by the Yemeni government appears to have little effect so far on American policy in the region. The arms deals for authoritarians keep getting bigger, while support for activists like Karman could be cut to zero.
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